1998 PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR REACTS AFTER AIR INDIA CRASH SURVIVOR SAT IN SAME SEAT
Read Time:4 Minute, 41 Second
By: Sefiu Ajape
A Thai singer who survived a deadly plane crash in 1998 has reacted after discovering that the sole survivor of a recent Air India tragedy was seated in the exact same seat he once occupied—11A.
Ruangsak Loychusak, now 47, was on board Thai Airways flight TG261 when it crashed during a landing attempt in Surat Thani. The flight, which departed from Bangkok, stalled mid-air and plunged into a swamp, killing 101 of the 146 people on board. Loychusak was among the 45 survivors.
Speaking on Thursday, June 12, 2025, following the crash of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, the singer expressed shock at the eerie coincidence. The lone survivor of the Air India crash, 40-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was also seated in seat 11A.
Taking to his Facebook page, he wrote, “I had goosebumps when I saw it.
“The lone survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me—11A. I want to offer my condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.”
Although he no longer possesses his original boarding pass, Loychusak said contemporary newspaper reports from the 1998 incident documented his seat number.
According foreign news outlet, BangkokPost, on Thursday, Loychusak reflecting on his own survival, described the long-lasting emotional scars left by the crash, calling the years since a “second life.”
“I lived a second life after the crash. For 10 years, I had a hard time flying. My breathing would become difficult even when the air was fine.
“I didn’t talk much on flights and always stared out of the window. I wouldn’t let anyone close it, it made me feel unsafe,” he said.
He added that the experience haunted him physically and emotionally for a long time.
“The sound of the crash, the smell of burning, even the taste of the swamp water, I remember it all. I carried it with me in silence for years.
“I can still remember the sounds, smells, and even the taste of the water in the swamp the plane crashed into. For a long time, I would keep the feelings to myself,” he added.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, en route to London Gatwick, crashed into buildings shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
The only survivor, Ramesh from Leicester, England, sharing his shocking account of the disaster, described how he was “ejected” from the jet before it hit the ground and exploded.
Ramesh, who lives in London with his wife and child, is being treated at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, where he told doctors that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, ejecting him before there was a loud explosion.
According to Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who is treating him at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Ramesh sustained multiple injuries but is in stable condition.
In an interview with Doordarshan, Ramesh said, “I don’t know how I came out of it alive.
“For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there,” adding how two cabin crew members “died before my eyes.”
His seat, located beside the emergency exit, detached as the aircraft struck the ground, an occurrence that may have saved his life.
He recalled how the pilots tried to raise the jet, but it “went full speed and crashed into the building.”
Ramesh explained how the plane quickly caught fire following the crash, and said he burned his arm.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.
“There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital,” he said.
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